Terri Irwin (L), wife of the late crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, and Captain Paul Watson (R) pose in front of the newly named ship 'Steve Irwin', before its departure to confront the Japanese whaling fleet in the Southern Ocean on December 2007. (William West/AFP/Getty Images)
Japan is expected to target Australia's Antarctic waters for its annual whale hunt.
The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, which will send two vessels to harass the Japanese fleet, wants to see the whalers put in the dock.
Captain Paul Watson cited an Australian federal court ruling in 2008 which ordered a Japanese whaling ship out of Australian waters because it had unlawfully slaughtered whales.
"All Australians should expect the Australian government to enforce the law," Capt Watson told AAP from the US.
"(If someone) is blatantly in contempt of a federal court ruling, they should be arrested or at least escorted out of the waters."
Australia lays claim to a large area of ocean off Antarctica abutting Australia's Antarctic bases.
Capt Watson claimed the Japanese would this summer aim to take 950 minke whales and 50 endangered fin whales.
Japan may also resurrect the slaughter of humpbacks, which have not been hunted in recent years, Capt Watson warned.
Sea Shepherd vessels fly under a pirate flag and have been accused of ramming vessels and lobbing stink bombs onto their decks.
This year, a powerboat - a "harpoon interceptor vessel" - will join the protest mothership.
"It brakes in front of them, it will stay there, so they can't get a shot at a whale," Capt Watson said.
"We are taking on some extra equipment and a few surprises."
The fleet will leave from Australia in early December.
There is a world-wide moratorium on commercial whaling, but Japan hunts whales under the banner of research. Some of the meat ends up on dinner plates.
Japan has a new left-leaning government after a long period of conservative rule, but Capt Watson was not optimistic that whaling would stop.
